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New market for West Australian sprouts in South Korea

West Australian-grown brussels sprouts are now making their way into Asia. This is partly due to efforts by local horticulture business Odeum Farms to diversify its market base. Nick Paterniti, export manager at Odeum Farms, said the 20-year-old company has been exporting brussels sprouts for a while now, with most going to South Korea. Last year’s 60 tons is set to increase to 90 tons during the 2018 season, and should reach 120 tons annually by 2020. “South Australia has for many years provided sprouts into South Korea and will continue to supply them during their six-month season,” Paterniti said. “Here in WA we can supply them for the other five or six months of the year.”

According to an article on thewest.com.au, Odeum’s exports are taking a market share from Belgium and the Netherlands during those months. Fuelling Mr Paterniti’s confidence that market share will continue to grow, is the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement. By January 2020, the previous 27 per cent tariff should have been eliminated, a process that has been happening in incremental stages since 2014.

Although making their biggest headway with sprouts, Odeum also started exporting other fruit and vegetables in the past two years, including melons to Malaysia and the UAE and strawberries to South-East Asia.

“This project has been funded by the Australian Trade Commission as a part of the Asian Business Engagement (ABE) grant program and is supported by Trade and Investment Queensland and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Queensland.”